ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

HEBREW LANGUAGE
AND LINGUISTICS
Volume 3
PZ
General Editor

Geoffrey Khan
Associate Editors

Shmuel Bolokzy
Steven E. Fassberg
Gary A. Rendsburg
Aaron D. Rubin
Ora R. Schwarzwald
Tamar Zewi

LEIDEN BOSTON
2013

2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3

Table of Contents
Volume One
Introduction ........................................................................................................................
List of Contributors ............................................................................................................
Transcription Tables ...........................................................................................................
Articles A-F .........................................................................................................................

vii
ix
xiii
1

Volume Two
Transcription Tables ...........................................................................................................
Articles G-O ........................................................................................................................

vii
1

Volume Three
Transcription Tables ...........................................................................................................
Articles P-Z .........................................................................................................................

vii
1

Volume Four
Transcription Tables ...........................................................................................................
Index ...................................................................................................................................

2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3

vii
1

temporal clause: biblical hebrew

731

(1a) ?- ...
u-ma
ai-t
aare-ha-ohorayim
and-what do.PAST-2FS after.GEN-the-noon
. . . and what did you do in the afternoon?
(1b)
ra-ti
ba-parq
mi-ame
run.PAST-1CS in.the-park from-ve
I ran in the park from ve oclock.
(2a)
ra-ti
ba-parq
be-meex alo aot
run.PAST-1CS in.the-park for three hours
I ran in the park for three hours.
(2b) ,
be-meex alo anim, ra-ti
ba-parq
for three years,
run.PAST-1CS in.the-park
I ran in the park for three years.
(2c) ( ) ,
be-meex alo anim, ra-ti
ba-parq
for three years,
run.PAST-1CS in.the-park
be-meex alo aot
(kol yom)
for three hours
(every day)
I ran in the park for three hours (every day) for three years.
For a detailed exemplication of temporal
adverbial expressions throughout the Modern
Hebrew temporal system see Glinert 1989;
Muchnik 1989; Tsivoni 1993.

References
Bonomi, Andrea. 1995. Aspect and quantication.
Temporal reference, aspect and actionality: Semantic and Syntactic Perspectives, volume 1, ed. by
Pier-Marco Bertinetto, Valentina Bianchi, James
Higginbotham, and Mario Squartini, 93110.
Torino: Rosenberg and Sellier.
De Swart, Henriette. 1993. Adverbs of quantication: A generalized quantier approach. New
York: Garland, Outstanding dissertations in Linguistics.
Glinert, Lewis. 1989. The grammar of Modern
Hebrew. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hornstein, Norbert. 1990. As time goes by: Tense
and universal grammar. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Klein, Wolfgang. 1994. Time in language. London:
Routledge.
Muchnik, Malka. 1989. Expressions of tense, mood,
and aspect in Modern Hebrew (in Hebrew).
Hebrew Linguistics 27:2954.
Reichenbach, Hans. 1947. Elements of symbolic
logic. London: Macmillan.
Tsivoni, Lea. 1993. Ways to express perfective,
iterative, durative, and tense in written Israeli
Hebrew (in Hebrew) Leonenu 56:5587.
Nora Boneh
(The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Temporal Clause: Biblical

Hebrew
In Biblical Hebrew (BH), the temporal clause
takes many different forms. First, the temporal
clause can either (a) follow the main clause
or (b) precede it. The rst possibility, i.e.,
(a) main clause + temporal clause, follows
the usual word order in BH, while the second
possibility, i.e., (b) temporal clause + main
clause, differs from it and is represented by a
variety of different constructions. Among these
latter are cases where the temporal clause is
introduced by wa-yh or w-h<y<.
Second, the temporal specication in question
can take the form of a complete adverbial (i.e.,
circumstantial) clause, of an innitive with
a preposition, or of a noun, with or without
an accompanying preposition. To show this
briey, let us consider the following examples, in which the temporal complement

bay-ym ha-l on the third day

appears in three different syntactic positions,
i.e., (1) at the end of a sentence; (2) at the
beginning of a sentence; and (3) introduced by
wa-yh.
(1)

way-yis n yir<l way-y<

2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3

732

temporal clause: biblical hebrew

l-<rhm bay-ym ha-l Then the

Israelites set out, and they came to their
towns on the third day (Josh. 9.17);

(2)

bay-ym ha-l wayyi< ar<h<m -n<w way-yar -hamm<qm m-r<q Now, on the third day,
Abraham looked up and saw the place
from afar (Gen. 22.4);


(3)



wa-yh

ay-ym ha-l bi-hy<m km wayyiq n-n-yaq imn w-lw

n< arb way-y< al-h<-r
ba way-yahar<g kl-z<<r And it happened that in the third day, when they
were in pain, the two of Jacobs sons,
Simeon and Levi, brothers of Dinah,
took each one his sword, came upon the
city unmolested, and slew all the males
(Gen. 34.25).

In their presentations of the temporal clause,

BH grammarians give a varied view of the
different possibilities attested (see Ewald
1870:827829; Knig 1897:557559; GKC
1910:501503; Meyer 1972:III, 107111;
Joon and Muraoka 2006: 584590), but do
not make any distinction between the possibilities (a) and (b). However, the second possibility presents a wide variety of constructions that
deserve attention.
1. M a i n C l a u s e + T e m p o r a l
Clause
In the following passages, the temporal clause


follows the main clause, e.g.,

wayyl YHWH kar kill< labbr l-ar<h<m
w-ar<h<m < li-mqm Then YHWH
departed when He nished speaking to Abraham, while Abraham returned to his place
(Gen. 18.33), where the temporal element is a
complete clause with kar (when) +
qaal, Gen. 45.28 with a temporal clause introduced by b-rm (before) + yiqol,
Gen. 24.19 with a temporal clause introduced
by a im (until) + qaal, and Gen.
26.13 with ( until) a k + qaal.

2. T e m p o r a l C l a u s e + M a i n
Clause
An example of a complete temporal clause at
the beginning of a sentence is a construction
introduced by k (when, if) + qaal, followed by a main clause with way-yiqol, e.g.,

k < ss par b-rib u--<r<<w bay-

y<m way-y< YHWH lhm -m hay-y<m

u-n yir<l h<l ay-yabb<< b- hayy<m. Now, when the horses of Pharaoh, with
his chariots and horsemen, went into the sea,
YHWH turned back on them the waters of the
sea, while the Israelites marched on dry ground
in the midst of the sea (Exod. 15.19).
Other possibilities are temporal constructions
with w-aar (after, afterwards) + qaal,
e.g., Gen. 30.21, or b-rm (before) +
yiqol, and the main clause with weqaal, e.g.,
1 Sam. 2.15. Another possibility is a wawx-qaal construction serving, from the point
of view of semantics, as a temporal clause,
followed by a main clause with wayyiqol,

e.g.,
u-n ammn r< k-n<s r<m
way-y<ns mip-pn ay way-y< h<-r
Now, as the children of Ammon saw that the
Syrians had ed, they also ed before Abishai,
and entered into the city (2 Sam. 10.14). Still
another possibility is a preposition + innitive,
grammatically a simple temporal element that,
but, syntactically it functions as a complete

temporal clause, e.g.,

u-- d<wi m-hakk -hap-

plit way-yiqqa anr wa-yih li-n

<l w-r hap-plit b-y< Now, as soon
as David returned from slaughtering the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before
Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand
(1 Sam. 17.57).
Finally, a simple nominal syntagm, such as
an extraposed element, or casus pendens, can
also function as a complete temporal clause.
In 1 Sam. 17.24, strictly speaking, the initial
nominal syntagm w-l
yir<l and all the men of Israel cannot be

considered the subject of the following
bi-r<m because of the redundancy of the
plural sufx on this innitive. The phrase

2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3

temporal clause: rabbinic hebrew

w-l yir<l and all the men

of Israel is therefore not part of the following
clause, but is an extraposed element, or casus
pendens (the alternative construction would
u-i-r kl
have been ...
yir<l . . . and when all the men of Israel
saw . . . ). Thus we have here a temporal syntagm broken into two extraposed elements, i.e.,
rst a casus pendens, second a preposition +



innitive:

w-l yir<l bi-r<m

-h<- way-y<ns mip-p<n<w way-yr
m Now, (as for) all the men of Israel, when
they saw the man (Goliath), they ed away
from him, and were very much afraid. Two
further cases are found in Exod. 16.67.
3. w a - y h o r w - h < y <
+ Temporal Clause + Main
Clause
The construction k (when) + qaal, followed by a main clause with wayyiqol, is

introduced by wa-yh in

wa-yh k <ln
l-ad< < wan-nagg-l dir n
And it happened that when we went up to
your servant my father (Jacob), we reported
my lords words to him (Gen. 44.24). The
same construction may have a waw-x-qaal,
or even a simple qaal, instead of wayyiqol,
as the main clause, e.g., 1 Kgs 8.54. Moreover,
instead of a complete temporal clause, also a
preposition + innitive construction may perform the function of a temporal clause, e.g.,
Gen. 12.14, and a noun used adverbially may
be used in the syntactic position of a temporal
clause, e.g., 1 Sam. 1.4. Furthermore, wayh and w-h<y< can introduce the same
constructions, both in narrative and in direct
speech, e.g., Exod. 17.11 in narrative.
As the temporal constructions introduced by
wa-yh can have a wayyiqol or a (waw-x-)
qaal as the main clause, so the sentences intro< < can have either weqaal,
duced by w-hy
or (waw-)x-yiqol, or even a simple yiqol, as
the main clause, e.g., weqaal in 1 Sam. 16.23,
x-yiqol construction as the main clause in Josh.
3.13, and a simple yiqol as the main clause is
present in Exod. 33.8 (the same in v. 9).
In conclusion, the two-member construction
temporal clause + main clause not introduced
by wa-yh in narrative and by w-h<y<

733

in direct speech does not belong to the foreground of the discourse, but indicates background information, a fact that I have tried to
render as now . . . , when . . . . On the other
hand, the same construction, when it is introduced by wa-yh in narrative and by
w-h<y< in direct speech, becomes foreground.
Indeed, the two-member construction functions as the syntactical subject of wa-yh
and of w-h<y<, and a literal translation would be And it (the fact) happened /
will happen that, when . . . (circumstances
of temporal clause), then . . . (events of main
clause), while a more simple translation would
be: And then / And thus . . . This kind of translation indicates coordination and continuation
of the foreground of the discourse, while the
translation now . . . , when . . . for the constructions not introduced by wa-yh or by
w-h<y indicates non-coordination, even
interruption, of the main foreground events.
For a more detailed discussion of verbal
usage in temporal clauses in Biblical Hebrew
see Niccacci 1990: 47109, 125162.
References
Ewald, Heinrich. 1870. Ausfhrliches Lehrbuch der
hebrischen Sprache des alten Bundes. 8th edition.
Gttingen: Verlag der Dieterichschen Buchhandlung.
GKC = Kautzsch, Emil (ed.) 1910. Gesenius Hebrew
grammar. Trans. by Arthur E. Cowley. Oxford:
Clarendon.
Joon, Paul and Takamitsu Muraoka. 2006. A grammar of Biblical Hebrew. Rev. edition. Rome: Pontical Biblical Institute Press.
Knig, Eduard. 1897. Historisch-comparative Syntax der hebrischen Sprache. Schlusstheil des historisch-kritischen Lehrgebudes des Hebrischen.
Leipzig: Hinrichs.
Meyer, D. Rudolf. 19661972. Hebrische Grammatik. 4 vols. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Niccacci, Alviero. 1990. The syntax of the verb in
classical Hebrew prose. Trans. by Wilfred G. E.
Watson. Shefeld: JSOT Press.
Alviero Niccacci
(Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Jerusalem)

Temporal Clause: Rabbinic

Hebrew
Rabbinic Hebrew employs a wide range of prepositions and conjunctions to express temporal
relations between different events (a detailed
study of temporal clauses in the Mishna may be
found in Azar 1995:113123).

2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3